St. Cecilia Music Center

Rock Camp: The Outer Vibe turns young rockers into nearly polished pros

Monday, April 04 2011

By John Sinkevics | The Grand Rapids Press

Guitarist Nick Hosford learned most things “the hard way” as a teenage musician, negotiating the mysterious world of rock bands, gigs, managers and money. Heck, just figuring out how to keep a strap from falling off of a guitar midway through a riff was a challenge, not to mention discovering why it’s not a good idea to tick off the sound guy at a show.

“We had so many questions,” recalls Hosford, now 27, of Grand Rapids, a founding member of popular West Michigan rock band The Outer Vibe. “To have them answered all in one place would have been extremely helpful.” That’s why Hosford and his bandmates launched “Rock Camp,” a week-long retreat for budding teenage rockers which pairs them with other serious young musicians, teaches them performance basics and offers them tips on the business of rock – tips that come from the most respected of sources: a hard-working, veteran rock band.

For the past three years, members of The Outer Vibe have passed on this hands-on knowledge of the rock-band scene to teens hungry for the skinny on how to put musical passion into action. “They’re pumped up and terrified simultaneously,” says Hosford, noting the Grand Rapids camps end with a big “School of Rock”-like show at The Intersection nightclub. Last year, about 700 relatives, friends and fans turned out. “It’s really neat because they’re backstage at The Intersection and standing in the ‘Green Room’ and there’s the signatures of these legendary bands there. They’re on the same stage. It’s pretty neat. They come off the stage, and a lot of times the night’s not even over, and they say, ‘When’s the next camp?’ ”

That “next camp” actually begins today with an orientation at St. Cecilia Music Center, 24 Ransom Ave. NE in Grand Rapids. It gets rolling in earnest on Monday as part of a unique spring break activity for dozens of students. Better yet, things often keep rolling after the week-long session ends: Most of these young musician rock on, with some even playing years later with the same bands first formed at one of the camps. “They e-mail us all the time. They keep coming back to the camp,” says Lisa Kacos, 26, who’s played trumpet and keyboards in The Outer Vibe since 2003. “It’s the type of camp where every single kid wants to be there. Their attitude is great. They work really hard. They start to learn from each other.”

It’s only the second time The Outer Vibe has staged the camp at St. Cecilia Music Center, and the band hosts its first-ever Rock Camp in Holland next month, with campers performing during Tulip Time. But the band – Kacos, Hosford, drummer Jeff Brems, singer Sean Zuidgeest and bassist Andrew Dornoff – has hosted about 10 such sessions since 2009, most at Michigan State University in East Lansing. They launched the retreats at the suggestion of a professor who noted there are few opportunities for young rock-oriented musicians to meet like-minded students who aren’t part of a school-sponsored orchestra or ensemble.

The teaching thing came naturally for The Outer Vibe: Kacos, with a master’s degree in music theory from MSU, and Hosford, with a master’s in music from Eastern Michigan University, teach music-related courses at Grand Rapids Community College. And remaining band members give private music lessons. So, Hosford says the band – which plays upwards of 100 or more gigs a year in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois and beyond – can show teens “the ropes from our their own experiences and teach them the way music should be taught.”

It’s not just about playing an instrument. After all, enrollees already must have some previous experience on guitar, bass, drums, keyboards or vocals before they sign up. It’s about learning how to relate with other group members with whom they’re paired, about establishing stage presence, about finding the right audience for a band’s music.

Beyond learning and performing two songs (picked from a wide range of tunes, Led Zeppelin to Katy Perry), campers also get sessions on marketing, branding and imaging. “If you want to make music your job, which every young musician probably dreams of, it’s a job like any other,” Kacos says. “We run our band like a business.” Adds Hosford: “One thing we really try to teach is that rock stars are professionals. They work hard. Playing in a band and becoming a millionaire is no different than being on Wall Street. It’s about teamwork and hard work. Once they learn that, they’re pretty much good at anything they do.”

Can these kids learn all that in one week? In a word, yes. “It’s astonishing,” Hosford gushes. “They naturally take the initiative, they want to be there and the kids just get it on. The sound engineers love it. They say, ‘I hear them and I can’t believe how good they are. They sound good and they’re 14?’ They have good attitudes, they work hard, they’re polite and professional.” (Polite rockers? Gee, I know a few veteran, road-tested bands that could use some Rock Camp training … )

The camps have been so popular, the band even recently tried its first-ever adult rock workshop, after parents of some teenage campers expressed interest in enhancing their own musical hobbies. Even The Outer Vibe – which recently finished building its own recording studio north of Grand Rapids with plans for a new album later this year – has learned something. The camps keep band members grounded, reminding them of the basics, like: “Sing to the audience; don’t hide behind the microphone.” And watching their young pupils perform for the first time brings back memories of the thrills they experienced on stage as teens. “It makes you a better performer,” Hosford says, “because you’re re-focused by seeing the excitement these kids have.” “It’s a blast. We love doing it,” adds Kacos. “To see their excitement, especially in the performance, that’s very satisfying. It rekindles our excitement. We feed off their excitement.”